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RECENTLY IN THE NEWS

National Press Highlight.

Featured coverage highlighting research at the intersection of data mapping, conservation science, and climate policy.

Vishal Kennedy conducting field research in a mountainous landscape.
National Wildlife Magazine
Courtesy of Vishal Kennedy
RECENTLY IN THE NEWSNational Wildlife Federation

Vishal Kennedy Is Mapping the Future

The former NWF EcoLeaders fellow uses data to model conservation and climate outlooks

By Delaney McPherson•

Featured by National Wildlife magazine for applying data mapping, conservation science, and environmental policy to questions shaping the future of protected ecosystems and wildlife.

Read the National Wildlife Feature
Track Record & Projects

Professional Experience.

Building ML pipelines, shipping AI applications, leading national spatial research, and shaping environmental policy.

University of Tennessee, KnoxvilleAug 2022 – Present

Ph.D. Candidate & NSF Graduate Research Assistant

Knoxville, TNNSF Research Project

270 Vertebrate Species Across 13 States
  • Engineered automated spatial data processing pipelines across Python, R, and STATA evaluating US protected-area effectiveness using federal datasets (PAD-US v4.1, NatureServe v1.0, USNVC, EPA ecoregions).
  • Modeled climate-driven range shifts for 270 vertebrate species across 13 Appalachian states, constructing co-responsibility matrices (HHI, Pielou's J, Bray-Curtis) that identify critical policy gaps in State Wildlife Action Plans.
  • Scope research questions directly with NatureServe and USGS partners, translating spatial findings into federal comment letters and stakeholder briefs through the Environmental Law Organization (ELO).
Spatial Data PipelinesPython & RGIS / PAD-USClimate ModelingScience Policy
National Wildlife Federation2025

EcoLeaders Platform Rebuild Lead

Reston, VA / HybridProduct Analytics & UX

+283% Platform Engagement Surge
  • Diagnosed participant churn on national youth engagement platform by combining user analytics with direct qualitative interviews.
  • Rebuilt core platform experience around data findings—restructuring content hierarchy, onboarding flows, and outreach cadence—driving a 283% increase in platform engagement over prior cycle.
  • Documented outreach and retention framework for permanent staff execution and briefed executive leadership on strategic roadmap.
PythonPlatform AnalyticsUX StrategyGoogle AnalyticsProduct Strategy
University of Tennessee, with NatureServe & USGS2024 – Present

National Protected-Areas Representation Pipeline Developer

Knoxville, TNNational Spatial Pipeline

210 USNVC Vegetation Groups Analyzed
  • Built a reproducible pipeline overlaying 210 USNVC vegetation groups against PAD-US v4.1 and EPA Level-I ecoregions at national scale, measuring ecological quality over raw acreage.
  • Demonstrated that strict (GAP 1/2) vs broad (GAP 1/2/3) protection gaps inflate apparent ecosystem representation, undercutting 30x30 policy narratives.
  • Shipped per-ecoregion regression tables, publication figures, and documented Jupyter/R notebooks for USGS and NatureServe collaborators.
R & PythonPAD-USNatureServeGeospatial Modeling30x30 Policy
Perplexity AIJan 2025 – Oct 2025

Campus Strategist

Remote / UTK CampusAI Adoption & Strategy

500+ Researchers & Faculty Onboarded
  • Directed campus adoption program for an enterprise AI research platform, designing and delivering live workshops and hands-on demonstrations for 500+ graduate researchers and faculty.
  • Built a network of student leaders and department champions who fielded AI questions, while routing structured user feedback to product engineering teams.
  • Drafted student-centered recommendations on transparent and academically responsible AI integration, shaping departmental policy guidelines.
AI Adoption StrategyPrompt EngineeringProduct Feedback LoopsResponsible AI
Mic-hackathon (ORNL & Microscopy Society of America)2024

Automated TEM Analysis Pipeline Developer

Oak Ridge National Lab / RemoteHackathon & ML Publication

Peer-Reviewed ML Publication (2025)
  • Co-developed machine-learning pipelines automating Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) analysis with a multi-university research team (Penn State, NYU, Purdue, UTK), replacing manual instrument acquisition.
  • Benchmarked image-cropping and augmentation strategies for structure-property prediction in disordered systems using autoencoder models to surface nanoparticle geometry correlations.
  • Contributed directly to peer-reviewed paper: *Mic-hackathon 2024: hackathon on machine learning for electron and scanning probe microscopy*, Machine Learning: Science and Technology (2025), DOI: 10.1088/2632-2153/ae1f5d.
PythonMachine LearningAutoencodersComputer VisionORNL HackathonPyTorch
Google Gemini API Developer Competition2024

Clarifying-Question AI Chatbot Creator

Global CompetitionGoogle Gemini AI App

Built & Shipped Full-Stack Node/Express App
  • Architected an intelligent conversational agent that asks clarifying follow-up questions before generating answers, surfacing intent to condition the Google Gemini API call.
  • Shipped a working full-stack Node.js/Express web application with a responsive browser interface.
  • Demonstrated that eliciting structured context upfront produces significantly higher output quality for non-expert users compared to traditional prompt engineering.
JavaScriptNode.jsExpressGoogle Gemini APILLM ElicitationFull-Stack
US Biosphere Network (USBN)2025 – Present

Youth Board Member

National / Washington, DCNational Policy Board

UNESCO Hangzhou Strategic Action Plan
  • Appointed to represent early-career scientists in national biosphere reserve strategy, multi-scale gap analysis, and global 30x30 conservation framework implementation.
  • Authored nationwide spatial gap analysis evaluating ecosystem representation across US Biosphere Reserves (e.g. Southern Appalachian Biosphere Reserve) aligned with UNESCO targets.
  • Briefed senior agency leaders and international working groups on ecosystem representation debt and conservation prioritization.
Biosphere ReservesUNESCO Policy30x30 TargetGeospatial Gap Analysis
National Wildlife FederationMay 2025 – Nov 2025

EcoLeader Community Management Intern

Reston, VA / HybridFellowship & Policy

3rd Place National Policy Memo Contest
  • Authored strategic policy memoranda on sustainability governance and program implementation; earned an Environmental Justice Badge for Okefenokee protection advocacy.
  • Awarded 3rd Place in NWF National Innovative Policy Memo Contest (2023) for Clean Water Act and tribal co-management policy.
Policy GovernanceEnvironmental JusticeClean Water ActStrategic Writing
The University of Western AustraliaJun 2021 – Aug 2021

Summer Down Under Research Intern

Perth, AustraliaGenomics Research

+30% Screening Efficiency
  • Optimized disease-resistance screening efficiency by 30% on a state-funded agricultural resilience project by rewriting analytical pipelines for phenotypic data.
  • Executed genome-wide association study (GWAS) mapping and RGAugury bioinformatics annotation to identify climate-resilient crop traits.
BioinformaticsGWASRGAuguryPhenotypic PipelinesCrop Resilience
IISER KolkataAug 2016 – Aug 2021

BS-MS Integrated Degree & Student Leader

Kolkata, IndiaDegree & Governance

Top 1% National INSPIRE Scholar
  • Awarded prestigious INSPIRE Fellowship (Top 1% national merit, Govt of India) for outstanding academic achievement in natural sciences.
  • Completed Master's Thesis on plant developmental biochemistry and calyptra morphology under rigorous empirical standards.
  • Elected General Secretary of the Student Affairs Council (SAC); managed annual budgets, campus logistics, and student governance for 2,000+ members.
Biological SciencesINSPIRE FellowMaster's ThesisStudent Governance
Division of Biology & McClung Museum (UTK)2021 – Present

Graduate Teaching Assistant & Science Communicator

Knoxville, TNInstruction & Outreach

CIRTL Practitioner Certified
  • Instructed lab sections for BIOL 159 & BioLit 150; earned CIRTL Practitioner certification in evidence-based STEM instruction and student mentorship.
  • Curated interactive biodiversity public exhibits for annual Darwin's Day at McClung Museum, translating complex ecological datasets for public audiences.
STEM PedagogyCIRTL PractitionerPublic CommunicationStudent Mentorship
Pedagogy & Leadership

Teaching & Mentoring Experience.

Empowering students and early-career researchers through evidence-based STEM instruction, computational workshops, and inclusive academic mentorship.

500+
Researchers & Faculty Trained in AI
CIRTL
Practitioner Certified in STEM Pedagogy
4+
University Courses & Lab Sections
1-on-1
Undergrad & Youth Policy Mentorship
2021 – Present120+ Undergraduates Taught

Graduate Teaching Assistant & Laboratory Instructor

Division of Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville • Knoxville, TN

  • Instructed laboratory sections for BIOL 159 (Skills of Biological Investigation) & BioLit 150 (Biological Literacy).
  • Guided students through scientific hypothesis formulation, experimental design, and spatial data analysis in R and Python.
  • Earned CIRTL Practitioner Certification in evidence-based STEM instruction, active learning design, and inclusive lab environments.
  • Provided detailed feedback on empirical research papers and facilitated collaborative scientific discussions.
STEM PedagogyCIRTL Practitioner CertifiedBIOL 159 & 150R & Python DataLab Instruction
Jan 2025 – Oct 2025500+ Researchers & Faculty Onboarded

Perplexity AI Campus Strategist & AI Literacy Lead

Perplexity AI & UT Knoxville • Knoxville, TN / Remote

  • Designed and delivered live AI research literacy workshops and hands-on demonstrations for 500+ graduate researchers, postdocs, and faculty.
  • Taught structured prompting methodologies, literature synthesis workflows, and critical verification techniques for academic research.
  • Drafted university guidelines for transparent and academically responsible AI tool integration in research writing.
  • Mentored a network of student AI champions across multiple STEM and humanities departments.
AI Research LiteracyPrompt EngineeringFaculty Workshops500+ TrainedResponsible AI
2022 – Present1-on-1 Research & Career Mentorship

Undergraduate Spatial Ecology Research Mentor

Armsworth Lab, UT Knoxville • Knoxville, TN

  • Mentored undergraduate researchers in spatial connectivity modeling (Circuitscape), satellite remote sensing, and GIS data processing.
  • Guided students in presenting poster research at the Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement (EUReCA).
  • Advised mentees on NSF REU applications, graduate school statements, and scientific manuscript drafting.
  • Hosted weekly code-review sessions teaching reproducible analytical workflows in R and Python.
Spatial ModelingEUReCA MentorGIS/R TrainingNSF REU PrepCode Review
2024 – 2025National Student Policy Mentorship

NWF EcoLeaders Youth Leadership & Community Mentor

National Wildlife Federation • Reston, VA / Remote

  • Provided 1-on-1 and cohort mentorship to emerging youth leaders nationwide on environmental policy writing, advocacy, and community outreach.
  • Facilitated peer-review and coaching sessions for national student policy memos on Clean Water Act regulations and tribal co-management.
  • Evaluated student capstone projects for national sustainability badge credentials.
Youth LeadershipPolicy MentorshipClean Water ActCommunity Engagement
2021 – PresentPublic K-12 & Community Outreach

Public Science Communicator & Museum Educator

McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture • Knoxville, TN

  • Curated interactive biodiversity and evolutionary genetics learning stations for annual Darwin's Day museum celebrations.
  • Translated complex ecological datasets and specimen collections for K-12 students, teachers, and public museum visitors.
  • Designed hands-on biological visualization activities connecting regional Appalachian biodiversity to climate conservation.
Darwin's DayPublic CommunicationMuseum EducationK-12 Science
2024 – 2026Practitioner Training Workshops

Appalachian Environmental Policy Workshop Leader

Appalachian Public Interest Environmental Law (APIEL) • Knoxville, TN

  • Designed and led interactive practitioner workshops teaching students and community advocates how to turn spatial ecological datasets into federal public comment letters.
  • Authored open-access reference guides for spatial GIS data translation in environmental law and policy contexts.
Policy WorkshopsGIS TranslationEnvironmental AdvocacyAPIEL Conference

Courses Instructed & Workshops

BIOL 159Laboratory Instructor

Skills of Biological Investigation

Hands-on laboratory course introducing undergraduates to experimental design, statistical hypothesis testing, data visualization in R/Python, and scientific reporting.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville
BioLit 150Graduate Teaching Assistant

Biological Literacy & Synthesis

Foundational course focusing on critical evaluation of primary scientific literature, research synthesis, peer review, and scientific writing.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville
AI-101Workshop Creator & Leader

AI Workflows for Academic Research

Campus-wide workshop series covering computational research synthesis, advanced prompt engineering, source verification, and transparent AI integration.

Perplexity AI & UT Knoxville
GIS-POLPractitioner Workshop Leader

Spatial Ecological Data in Environmental Policy

Specialized training on translating species movement models and spatial GIS layers into federal public comment letters and legal briefs.

APIEL Conference

Pedagogical Training

CIRTL Practitioner Certification2024

Center for Integration of Research, Teaching & Learning

Evidence-Based STEM Teaching2023

CIRTL Network / UTK Graduate School

Inclusive Pedagogy & Active Learning2023

UTK Teaching & Learning Innovation

AI Literacy & Prompt Architecture2025

Anthropic / Perplexity

Pedagogical Philosophy

“Effective STEM education bridges technical precision with inclusive, inquiry-driven mentorship. My mission is to equip students with computational tools, critical scientific literacy, and the confidence to drive real-world conservation impact.”

Recognition & Credentials

Awards, Honors & Certifications.

National fellowships, policy awards, professional certifications, and selected keynote presentations.

Honors & Fellowships

Fellowship Honor2026

William Byrne-Hartz Fellowship

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Highest-honor fellowship awarded for outstanding environmental research impact and conservation leadership.

National Award2026

Real Brown Award

Ecological Society of America (ESA)

Recognizing excellence in wildlife ecology, spatial conservation modeling, and ecosystem protection.

Policy Honor2026

Tom Gilbert Award

Baker School of Public Policy & Public Affairs

Awarded for impactful public policy research bridging ecological modeling with federal environmental decision-making.

Global Nomination2026

UNESCO MAB Young Scientist Award Nominee

UNESCO Man & the Biosphere Programme

Nominated for multi-scale gap analysis evaluating ecosystem representation across US Biosphere Reserves and 30x30 targets.

National Fellowship2025

NWF EcoLeaders Graduate Fellowship

National Wildlife Federation

Competitive national research fellowship focusing on digital engagement analytics, sustainability governance, and community outreach.

Research Grant2024–2025

Hesler Student Research Award

UTK Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Herbarium-based specimen research grant supporting national-scale vegetation classification and spatial analytics.

Field Grant2024–2025

Breedlove, Dennis Award for Botanical Field Experiences

UTK Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Grant supporting botanical field inventory, specimen collections, and regional biodiversity mapping.

Academic Honor2024–2025

A.J. and Evelyn Sharp Award

Botanical Society of America / UTK

Awarded for research excellence in plant morphology, systematic botany, and evolutionary adaptations.

3rd Place National2023

3rd Place Winner, National Innovative Policy Memo Contest

National Wildlife Federation

National award for innovative policy memorandum on wetlands conservation, Clean Water Act regulations, and tribal co-management.

Top 1% National Merit2016–2021

INSPIRE Fellowship (Top 1% National Merit)

Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India

Prestigious 5-year fellowship awarded to students ranking in the top 1% nationwide for scientific excellence.

Professional Certifications

AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations

Anthropic

2025

Claude 101 & Advanced Prompting

Anthropic

2025

GIS & Remote Sensing Certification

Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (ISRO)

2023

CIRTL Practitioner (STEM Pedagogy)

Center for Integration of Research, Teaching & Learning

2024

Environmental Justice Badge

National Wildlife Federation

2025

UNDP Biodiversity Finance (BIOFIN) Certification

United Nations Development Programme

2024

Keynote & Presentations

Research Keynote2026

Evaluating Representation Debt in US Protected Area Networks

IALE (International Association for Landscape Ecology) • Athens, GA

Policy Briefing2026

Multi-Scale Ecosystem Representation in US Biosphere Reserves

US Biosphere Network (USBN) Working Group • Washington, DC

Symposium Presentation2025

Climate-Driven Vertebrate Shifts & State Wildlife Action Plans

Southeast CASC Regional Science Symposium • Raleigh, NC

Practitioner Workshop2024 – 2026

Translating Spatial Ecological Data into Legal & Policy Comment Letters

Appalachian Public Interest Environmental Law Conference • Knoxville, TN

Case Studies

Selected Works.

A curated selection of research, publications, and policy projects bridging ecological data with environmental conservation.

Species Movement in Climate & Land-Use Change Across Appalachians
Conservation Spatial Modeling2024

Species Movement in Climate & Land-Use Change Across Appalachians

Spatial modeling of species connectivity, movement patterns, and habitat corridors under future climate and land-use change scenarios across the Appalachian region.

RPythonCircuitscapeGoogle Earth EngineRemote Sensing
Appalachian Biodiversity Projections
Ecology & Modeling2025

Appalachian Biodiversity Projections

Spatial land-use and climate change projections in the Appalachians to predict development expansion and habitat fragmentation.

PythonRDinamica EGOCircuitscape
Indigenous Co-Management of Wetlands
Environmental Policy2023

Indigenous Co-Management of Wetlands

Federal policy proposal modernizing wetland protection through tribal co-management partnerships (3rd place national winner, NWF contest).

Policy AnalysisClean Water ActScience Comm
EcoLeader Community Engagement
Community & Data Analytics2025

EcoLeader Community Engagement

Data analytics fellowship using Google Analytics and survey design to evaluate and improve national student conservation outreach.

Data ScienceGoogle AnalyticsUX Research
Parent-Offspring Conflict in Mosses
Evolutionary Genetics2026

Parent-Offspring Conflict in Mosses

Ph.D. research investigating resource allocation trade-offs and maternal-offspring interactions in bryophytes using microtomy and SEM.

MicroscopyGeneticsEvolutionary Theory
Brassica Pathogen Genomics
Plant Pathogen Genetics2021

Brassica Pathogen Genomics

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) and bioinformatic pipelines to map and annotate resistance genes in Brassica crops against Blackleg.

GWASRGAuguryPLINKR
Get In Touchvkenned2@vols.utk.edu
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